Epilogue
‘Are you sure there wasn’t a darkly handsome groundsman at the school?’
Adjusting the soft blanket, I raise my tired head from the pillow, my body experiencing all sorts of aches. ‘What was that?’
‘An irresistible gardener. Caretaker? Handyman?’
‘No idea,’ I reply, yawning through the words. ‘I’m nucking fackered.’
‘It was a hard night.’
‘Was it now?’ I purse my lips and raise a brow, quickly abandoning the responses borne both of my husband and Mum.
‘But beautiful.’
‘Good save,’ I answer with a small smile.
‘And a little brutal,’ he adds.
‘Sounds exactly like your kind of night.’
Reminiscent of a question mark, Kai raises a brow of his own.
‘Beautiful and brutal. Tire you out, did we?’
‘Absolutely,’ he says with a sly smile, briefly examining his forearm. ‘I’ll be wearing the bruises for weeks.’
‘Strangely enough, so will I.’
Kai laughs softly, his gaze meeting mine very briefly before lowering again.
‘A darkly handsome guard, then? Perhaps hailing from the mysterious subcontinent?’
At that point, the door clicks quietly behind the woman who spent the night with us in this very room. Walking towards Kai, she holds out sinuous arms. Tall, dark skinned and gorgeous, she’s like some exotic vision. An image that’s unfortunately spoiled when she opens her mouth. As she steps closer, Kai turns his torso away, avoiding her arms.
It’s with a small shake of her head that she graciously accepts his rebuff; it isn’t the first time she’s been refused by him this morning.
I’ve known since he walked into my classroom, full of confidence, and exuding his own special blend of sensuality, that Kai is used to getting women to do whatever he wants. This morning, however, it’s quite something to see the heightened effects. I can see I’m going to have to keep a much closer eye on things from here on out. Because, as gorgeous as he is, there’s just something almost primal about a man holding a tiny baby. And a man like Kai? Well, I expect he’ll be sending ovaries within a twenty metre radius into hyper drive.
I’ll probably need to get my hands on a Taser before I set the pair of them loose.
‘Nurse,’ I say this loudly to catch her attention. ‘Please tell mydarling husband—again—why my baby is the colour of a cup of tea.’ Builders’ tea. Strong, with just a splash of milk.
You see, while the pregnancy tests Martha took from the bathroom all those months ago may not haveallbelonged to me, at least one in the positive pile did. I just didn’t realise it at the time. After peeing on the last stick in a half-joking attempt to test the batch, I’d abandoned it with the others when the control line began to show. After all, I wasn’t expecting to be pregnant, was I? Turns out, time travel—not the DeLorean kind but the kind caused by crossing time zones—plays havoc with your body clock. Meaning deep vein thrombosis isn’t the only risk when flying long haul while taking a contraceptive pill. A screwed up body-clock can mean vastly delayed administering, which can apparently result in the side-effect of giving birth a bit further down the line.
I’d just started working for Mishael’s orphan foundation a few weeks after our ceremony, when I became aware of that risk. And after Kai’s look of disappointment that day, I had no concerns about telling him.Other concerns? Funnily enough, heaps.
‘Tea? You are wantingchai?’ replies the nurse.
I shake my head, repressing a sigh. ‘Can you give us five minutes, please?’ As she turns to leave, I look once more to Kai. ‘He’s jaundiced—’
‘That settles it,’ he says with an audacious grin. ‘He’s definitely my son with that view on life.’
I roll my eyes. Only because I haven’t the energy to get out of bed to punch him.
The nurse shrugs and makes for the door, pausing once more, but before she can speak, Kai bestows one of his knicker-dropping smiles on her. Even in the cool air conditioned room, I can feel the temperature rise.
‘Five more minutes.’ His words are low spoken and throaty, probably the results of being a little hoarse after his role as my cheer-team. ‘Five minutes and I’ll bring Adam to you.’
